"—Gah?!"
Ichiro gasped as if his breath was cut off for some time, waking up to the reality he had deemed his.
"The train is departing."
It was the second time he heard that if he disregards the weird dream he had.
It was rather realistic and felt physical and emotional. It was too memorable to be forgotten.
"Kyori... Ron..."
Those were the only names he could remember in that dream, quickly listing them down to his phone's digital note application.
"That was... super amazing."
He chuckled as he holds his head, unbelievably shocked from the dream he just had.
He admitted that he was a bit slow at times but...
"Huh. I feel fine now."
He was suddenly fine. His breathing was stable and his sweat had almost somehow come back to his own body.
What a weird progression, he thought to himself.
However, this was just rather convenient, he should just calm down and take a picture to commemorate the moment he was going to Tokyo.
"Alright. Say cheese, Ichiro!"
Click.
He took the image. However, as he views it from the gallery. There was a bunch of images that stood out from everything else.
It was small, but it was there.
He had to click on it to enlarge his screen and slowly, he could hear his heartbeat once again.
It was images of Kyori. The ones he took forcefully in his dream. However, why was it here?
It should only exist there. It should only exist within that dream, but this...
"This is not possible." he thought to himself.
But there was only one way he could confirm the reality he was in.
"S..."
He slowly placed down his phone as he was unnaturally calm yet cautious. He could feel his senses become sharper as his heartbeat become louder.
"Status."
He mumbled under his breath.
And just as he expected, there was a panel that appears, yet it was blue.
[Ichiro Mushibami: Lvl 1.
Status Chart Summary: Intelligence and Agility are above average. Lacking in Strength and Constitution.
Skills: Healing Factor Lv. 1, Luck Lv. 2, Curiosity Lv. 1, Inspect Lv. 1, Wisdom Lv. 1, Cooking Lv. 3, Household Lv. 3, Insight Lv. 1.
Unique Skills: Traveler Lv. X, Adaptation Lv. X [Active]
Class: Commoner/Otherworlder
Sponsor: N/A ]
It appeared right in front of him. A blue holographic panel that revealed his [Status].
The Adaptation Lv. X skill was labeled as "Active", giving Ichiro a clue as to why he couldn't feel the cold air conditioning of the train anymore.
If he could remember the skills in the game he played before, Adaptation was a skill that allowed a troop to experience less damage or be unaffected by most elements depending on its level.
He had such skill on max level, making it so that the slight cold will feel like nothing.
But his eyes were set on the word "Otherworlder [Isekaijin]," a word he had never seen before.
He was more familiar with the word "Other World [Isekai]" which was frequently used in other light novels he had read.
Regardless, it was speaking for itself. It was his class and it was true.
"I'm a Commoner and an Otherworlder?"
He asked himself, slowly raising his palms that were facing him.
"That is..."
He inhaled as he slowly raises tension in his dialogue.
"This is...!"
He rose in his intonation, with his eyes wide open.
"That is super lame!"
There was nothing overpowered about him. Everything in his skills was things that he had excelled in and practiced in his whole lifetime, only bringing in the obvious facts about him.
However, there were three skills that somehow we're different, yet had obvious things that it could only do.
"[Inspect]"
He used that skill as he held a pen, prompting a blue panel to display a description of it.
[Ballpoint Pen:
A blue ballpoint .5mm pen that had been used for five months. It is currently in the possession of ∆∆∆•• Mushibami and is in great condition.
Durability: 20/23
Kill Count: 0]
"——."
Supposedly disappointed, his reaction to it became rather suspicious as there was extra information that was at the latter part of the description.
"Kill count? Do all items even have that?"
As he checked everything, from the seats to the clothes he had, everything almost had a Kill Counter except for food.
It was a creepy detail for a system but maybe it would rather be informative in some cases.
[Congratulations! Your Inspect Lv increased from 1 > 2.]
Without notice, there was another prompt after he had last used his skill [Inspect] on the ground, which had a dull description.
"Whoa! I leveled up that easily? Wait, that makes sense. It's level 1, so it would level up quicker at first."
He was quickly adapting to the system, getting distracted by the dull yet informative descriptions of the objects he inspected.
"The train has now arrived in Tokyo."
The announcement had snapped Ichiro back to reality, looking outside the carts.
He had already arrived in Tokyo, his destination.
He quickly unboarded carrying his purse and coat that was beside him, however as he managed to get off the cart, he had one problem.
"It won't disappear."
His status screen was still there. Although he could move it with his hands, he had almost forgotten to take it away and hide it.
He was standing beside other people, but it never seemed like they were able to see the Status screen he had except for the previous instance with Kyori.
"H-Hide! Status hide!"
He tried to push it away while trying not to look like a fool in public, rushing to the restroom.
"Come on! I would only press like a button when I need to hide it!"
He was able to finally reach the restroom, facing the mirror as it was not able to reflect it. It just proved that only Ichiro could see the panel, making it a bit convenient that he wouldn't stand out.
"Ah! The Help Commands, right!"
He had remembered that there was a textbook digital copy of the commands available to him, looking at the mirror as he observes his stressed face.
"[H-Help!]"
He chants under his breath, and instantly, there was a prompt that revealed a scrollable panel where every available command was.
He scrolled down one after another, and what he finally saw was a command related to the status.
"[Collapse Status!]"
He shouted out as the panel in front of him folds and closes like an old tv, flashing a small light as it warps into nothing.
It was finally gone, breathing out a sigh of relief.
He would never be able to calm down for as long as he can see the status in the corner of his eyes.
He was able to finally calm down now.
"I love games but... can we keep it just inside my smartphone?! I have no idea how would a game even work in real life!"
He exclaimed to himself to the mirror, but as he said the word "How," there was another panel that was prompted up.
[Tutorial: How To Use The Status
Will you start the tutorial? Y/N
Rewards: Random Skill Orb and 500,000 Yen/Gen.]
It was a quest panel that prompted up with the panel's other half colored gold and the other as blue.
"A tutorial? I already know how it works..."
His words trailed off after reading the rewards, tempted by the money is included.
There was nothing more valuable to him than an extra allowance of 500 thousand yen. It was equal to the monthly allowance he received from his parents after he left.
Although this tutorial was unnecessary, he had to get that money. The random skill orb would only be a bonus as it might only come out as another dull skill that is related to talent.
It wouldn't hurt just to accomplish this one quest easily and reap the rewards, he thought to himself.
"Alright. Sure. Start tutorial."
However, little did he know that sometimes, the tutorial includes...
[Tutorial starting.]
...a location change.
[Transferring to tutorial space, Carte.]
"—Wait what?!"
He leans into the prompt that had informed him of the process.
Everything around him was slowly becoming beckoned with light as if he was in a beacon of digital light.
The transfer began from his feet up to his head, finalizing his teleportation, with his last words to be;
"Curse you tutoriaaaa—!"
As his body materializes back into the other world, he was still cursing at the system that had transferred him back.
It was only almost two hours since and he had already come back after a tutorial prompt fooled him into doing so.
[Tutorial: Say "Status" to open [Status Panel]!]
The promotion of the tutorial was there but Ichiro was done entertaining the system that had him for the last time.
"I already know that! I'll just go back and do that quest. The location doesn't even matter."
He was there once again, in the deserted barren wasteland. But he wasted no time going and cast his travel skill.
"Alright. Let's just go back then. [Travel!]"
[State your destination]
It prompted again, going through it again was such a hassle, he gloomed over it.
[Connecting to Earth. Locating catalyst...]
However, as the prompt panel slow down, there was a familiar word that he was able to see before.
"Locating catalyst?"
The first time he had used [Travel] to go back, there was a catalyst that had been detected that allowed the progress to move.
Yet, this time, that catalyst was not there.
"What is that? A magic mirror?"
That question hovered in his mind. It was something that Kyori had asked before as he pulled out his phone.
A magic mirror was a reusable artifact in Tentetsuki that allowed troops to go to their spawn point by just looking at it, without spending mana or items.
"My phone?!"
He began to search his pockets and coat, but his cost and phone were nowhere to be found. They were both left behind in the bathroom where he had placed them beside the sink.
[No catalyst detected. Cancelling Travel.]
[A catalyst is required for the location [Earth].]
"Oh no."
It was then that he finally realized.
He was trapped in another world until he finds another catalyst.